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By Elma B.

Recently, I found a magnificent board on Pinterest that is all about textures and fabric manipulation techniques used for surface creation. What I have realized about fashion is that a secret to a great ensemble is not just the design of the pieces one wears but rather it is equally about the fabrics that make-up those very pieces. So, the question begs, how does one decide which fabrics to choose when picking out wardrobe pieces?

Fashion Secrets:

Tips on Picking Out Fabrics & Textures

1. Stitching. Usually when picking out clothes, rarely does anyone think of checking out the stitching to figure out how much milage that piece will survive. In today's economy, I highly recommend looking at the stitching of an item before making a decision to purchase. Great use of stitching will save you from having to purchase a similar piece of clothing every season.

2. Dimensional detail. Great use of color and embellishments create dimensional details that make an outfit look stunning. For instance, a pleaded skirt with beaded details give a 3D dimension to a piece (take a look at my skirt below).

3. Texture. The texture of a piece is important for countless of reasons, e.g., making sure that the piece is comfortable and soft to the skin's touch or making sure that the item will not fall apart after running through your clothes washing machine three times. Another cool use of texture is creating 3D illusions. For instance, a low relief ruffled material can create a 3D appearance, take a look at my jacket below.

4. Fabrics. Fabrics are really important as well to also make sure you get the most milage out of one garment. I suggest purchasing whenever possible natural materials, e.g., silk and cotton, over human made materials. Cost saving tips: if at first, the item with the man made materials seems cheaper, calculate that it will cost you a lot more once you start replacing that item almost every season. Another tip is to look at the thread count of that item, e.g., if the cashmere sweater is made of thin and loosely threaded material, you can make sure that its chances of ripping after a couple of washes is significantly high.

There you have it fashionistas--tips on how not to burn a hole in your wallet while picking out textures and fabrics for your best possible look and feel. Below, you will find how I played around with various textures and fabrics for a bit of a 3D effect. What are your favorite materials and which ones do you feel the best in? Leave me a comment, love hearing from you. Until next time, xoxo from the Big Apple!